Gold washing and separating machine



2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

G. S. MEALS. GOLD WASHING AND SBPARATING MACHINE. No. 595,723.

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(No Model.) 2 sheens-sheet 2.

G. S. MEALS.

. l GOLD WASHING AND SEPARATING MACHINE.

No. 595,723. Patented Dec. 21, 1897.

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UNITED lSTATES PATENT Prion.

GABRIEL S. MEALS, OF COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO.

GOLD WASHING AND/SEPARATING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 595,723, dated December 21, 1897.

Application tiled December 23,1896. Serial No. 616,805, (No model.)

To all whom t may concern,.-

Be it known that I, GABRIEL S. MEALS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Colorado Springs, in the county of El Paso and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gold Washing and Separating Machines for Placer Purposes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in gold washing and separating placer-machines by which the gold is separated from the gravel, sand, and dirt and other substances in which it is found by means of sluices and riftles and the objects of my invention are, first, to make a machine simple in mechanical construction and easier of operation than any now in use; second, to do away with the necessity of using Quicksilver to save the gold, and, third, to aord perfect facilities for separating and saving all the gold, howeverwne and iioury, from the substances run through the mill. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying two sheets of drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a gold washing and separating-machine constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the heavy Woven-wire screen in one ofthe sluice-boxes. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of my invention. Fig. 4 is a sectional end view taken through a point where the sluice O ends at M. Fig. 5 is a plan of the frame and slanting bars which rest above the screen H. Fig. 5' is a sectional side elevation of Vthe frame and bars shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 6 is a plan of the lower portion of the sluice-box B, showing the screen therein. Fig. is a sectional view of the rifIie-bars. Fig. 7 is a plan of the upper section of the sluice-box C. Fig. 8 is an enlarged sectional view of the bars which form the riftlespin the sluice-boxes B and C..

Similar letters refer to silnilar parts throughout the several views.

The long sluice-boxes A', B, and C, the heavy standards b b, and the cross-bars c c, in connection with the base-blocks ct a, constitute the frame of the machine, to which the sluice-boxes A', B, and C are securely fastened. The sluice-box A has a heavy wovenwire screen D near its bottom and extendingy its entire length. This screen is coarse enough throughout.

tened to the sides ot' t-he sluice-box A'.

to allow solid substances a half-inch square to pass through it and is of the same-mesh The screen D is securely fas- The bottom of the sluice A' is indicated by the letter e, and this bottom is lined on its upper side with galvanized iron to make it smooth and prevent any substances from adhering to it. Between the wire screen D and the bottom e is an open space about an inch in depth extending the entire length of the sluice A. The bottom e is intersected at E by a transverse opening about an inch in width. From E to near the lower end of the sluice A' e becomes a false bottom and d the real bottom of the sluice A', as willappear more fully from Fig. 3, and the bottom CZ is also lined with galvanized iron on its upper side. The bottoms d and e are cut out, so as to make them several inchesshorter thanthe sides of the sluice A', in order that the gangue and water which pass over these ,bottoms may fall in the upper end of the sluice B instead of going out on the dump. The lower end of the sluice A' is open, so that the coarsegangue and the water which do not go through the screen D may pass out of the sluice A' to thedump. The sluice B is directly beneath the sluice A' and receives in its upper section, at the point F, all gangue and water which are washed down over the bottoms CZ and e. The sluice B has at its bottom a number of peculiarlyconstructed bars G, attached together in sections, so that they can be convenientlyremoved when it is necessary to clean the sluice B. The bars G rest on the bottom f so firmly that water and other substancescannot pass under them and extend transversely across the sluice and extend and occupy the bottom l f of the sluice from near its upper end to within a couple of feet of its lower end. --Atthe lower end of the sluice B is a woven-wire screen H of smaller mesh than the screen D; Between the screen l-I and therbottom f is `an open space about three-fourths of an inch in IOO sluice B will wash onto the screen, and such gangue as does not go through the meshes of the screen will be carried out of the end of the sluice and dump into the tailingstrough M. The bottom fis lined with galvanized iron above where the riile-bars commence and below where they end to prevent gangue from adhering to the bottom of the sluice at these points and also to cause the water and gangue to move more rapidly under the screen H than they do on the screen, thus giving the water a downward movement and causing a suction under the screen, which assists in cleaning it. The bottom fis shorter than the sides of the sluice-box B, as shown at K, the purpose being to permit the gangue which passes through the screen H to dump into the upper end of the sluice-box C instead of going out the end of the sluice-box B into the tailings-trough M.

The frame T, which has fixed in it crossbars at an angle of forty-iive degrees, is placed in the sluice-box directly above the screen H, so that the pitch of the bars is toward the lower end of the sluice-box. The slanting bars in this frame serve to catch the gangue and the water which comes over the rilebars and force. them down on the galvanized bottom f, when they pass rapidly out of the sluice-box into the sluice C. Clay and other sticky substances are caught and held by these bars until dissolved by the action of the water, which colnes against them with great force.

Beneath the upper end of the sluice-box C is a tailings-trough M, which receives the waste gangue which passes over the screen H. This trough is made wide and flaring at O to enable it to receive the tailings from across the entire sluice-box, while the body of the trough is made narrower, so that it will readily slip in and out between the standards Z9. A square wooden block P is fastened between the standards b and on the base-block CL, and this block is cut out to receive the trough M, which it supports, as shown in Fig. 4. The trough M can be made of anydesired length, preferably about four feet long, so that it can be easilydrawn out and cleaned when necessary. 'lhe trough M carries the tailings,which pass over t-he screen H out .under the sluice C, where such tailings can be dumped, or any ordinary trough can be connected with the end of the trough M to carry the tailings out beyond the machine. The tailings-trough M is not a component part of my washer, because the tailings which go in this trough could be dumped upon the ground Where they come out of the sluice-box B; but I have found it a matter of convenience to use such a trough.

The sluice-box C is directly beneath the sluice-box B and is so arranged that the gangue which passes through the meshes of the screen H will fall in the upper end at a point where the bottom of the sluice is lined with galvanized iron and above the riiiie-bars G. The

tailings which pass over the riiiie-bars to go on the dump.

The sluice-boxes A', B, and C have varying pitches, that of B being the greatest, that of A' being next, and C being the least. The sluice-boxes are tixed at these varyin g pitches in the supporting-standards Z).

At the point E the false bottom e is cut away, so as to make the opening E wider at the top than it is at the base, in order that this opening may the more readily receive the gangue which reaches this point.

The riiie-bars G are constructed as shown in Fig. 8. The undercut is made so that the water next the bottom of the sluice will run farthest under the bar and then follow the peculiar shape of the cut upward and then downward, giving the water a revolving motion, which serves to keep the heavy substances containing gold on the bottom of the sluice, while the lighter particles are washed over the sluice-bars. This revolving action of the water as it passes over the sluice-bars also serves to thoroughly wa sh the gangue and separate any light particles of gold from it. I have found that a riI'lle-bar constructed as shown will catch and retain all the gold in placer-dirt without using Quicksilver or amalgam plates. Hence I consider the rife-bar constructed as shown in Fig. 8 of vital importance in my washer.

The machine is operated as follows: The placer-dirt is placed in the conducting-flume A and is carried down such flume into the sluice-boX A by the action of a considerable volume of water. As the ganguepasses down over the screen in the sluice A the smaller substances which will go through the meshes of the screen D go down on the bottom @,where they move rapidly down to the opening E. The bottom e being lined with galvanized iron is quite smooth, and the water and gangue on this bottom move much faster than the gangue on the screen, causing an undercurrent or suction, by which the water is forced through the gangue on the screen, washing such gangue thoroughly and carrying all light and loury gold down on the bottom e. The gangue which reaches the bottom'e is carried down to the opening E and down through this opening on the bottom d, from whence it goes to the sluice B at the point F. The screenings which reach the bottom e, below the opening E, are carried down and dumped in the sluice B at the point F, while the coarse gangue goes out the end of the sluice A on the dump. The purpose of the false bottom e in the sluice A is to increase the capacity of the sluice-box to carry ott such gangue as passes through the screen D by making two swift undercurrents at the lower portion of the sluice, one of these currents being on the false bottom e next to the IOC IIO

screen and the other on the bottom CZ under the false bottom e. The suction caused by these undercurrents prevents any flour gold from being carried away with the coarse gangue to the dump, and at the same time carries down in the sluice B all gangue and water, which pass through the screen D and serve as an effectual means of keeping that screen from becoming clogged. The screened gangue which falls inthe upper end of the sluice B is carried rapidly down over the riffle-bars G, and as the quantity of water is small, the main volume of water having passed out of the sluice'A, the bars G by their peculiar undercut shape give the water a revolving motion, thus thoroughly washing the gangue and freeing the gold, which is deposited on the bottom of the sluice-box. The gangue and water which reach the lowest of the bars G are carried out on the screen H. This screen is of smaller mesh than the screen D. The gangue washes under the bars in the frame T, where such gangue is again thoroughly washed and soluble substances dissolved. The water under the screen H moves more rapidly than the water and gangue upon the screen, causing a downward motion of the water, which carries all iiour gold which has reached this point down on the bottom f and out in the sluice C. The coarse gangue which passes over the screen H is dumped in the tailings-trough M and goes from there to the dump. The substances which have passed through the screen H move quietly down the sluice C over the riftles G, and the light par.

ticles of gold settle on the bottom of such sluice-box, and the gangue goes out of the end of the sluice-box to the dump.

The sluice-boxes A', B, and C can be made of any desired size; but even a small machine constructed in accordance with my inven-v tion is capable of handling a large amount of placer-dirt, washing and separating all the gold from it by'reason of the undercurrents under the two screens and the peculiar construction of the rifiie-bars.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

1. The combination in a gold-washing machine of three sluice-boxes, one above the other, securely fastened in their supportingstandards at varying pitches, the upper sluiceiron fastened to each side of the sluice-boxand extending from the lower edge of the opening in the bottom of the sluice to within a fewA inches of the lower end of Y the sluicebox, such false bottom being an equal distance from the wire screen above it and the real bottom below it, a wooden bottom lined with galvanized iron to such sluice-box, the lower section of such bottom sunk lower than its upper section, such bottom being shorter ,than-the sides of the sluice-box leaving a small portion of the lower part of the sluice-v box without a bottom, the lower end of the sluice-box open to allow the gangue and water passing over the screen to go out on the dump, substantially as described.

2. The combination in a gold-washing machine of the sluice-box A having the wovenwire screen D, false bottom e, opening E, real bottom CZ, open space F, with a sluice-box having the bottom near either end lined with galvanized iron, and a series of bars trans'-v versely across it extending from the galvanized iron at one end to the galvanized iron at the other end, the bars having theirunder edges hollowed out, with a woven-wire screen of small mesh attached to a transverse bar at the' bottom of the sluice-box, with a loose frame in the lower portion of the sluice-box, such frame having secured in it slanting crossbars, the bottom of the sluice-box shorter than the sides of the box, and the lower end of such sluice-box open to allow the water and gangue passing over the screen to escape to the dump, substantially as described. y

' GABRIEL S. MEALS. Witnesses: f

C. L. MoKEssoN, J. H. WEIGERT. 

